Today District Attorney Susan Reed announced Operation Clean Sweep. It's a plan to clean up Camelot II, Windsor Oaks, and The Glenn by targeting absentee homeowners.
"They consider it the slums, but the kids play out there,” Micheaux Brody told us. “The kids don't consider it the slums. They consider it home."
That Micheaux Brady, a resident of The Glenn, was dressed in military garb at today’s announcement of Operation Clean Sweep. For years, his neighbors have been have been fighting to get things cleaned up on the northeast side; battling absentee landlords and neighbors who just don't care.
"We're trying to fight a war. You know, you've got to fight small battles to win a war,” Brody added.
But today's announcement of Operation Clean Sweep might bring Brady and his neighbors a little bit closer to victory, with District Attorney Susan Reed leading the charge.
"We are going to find them. We are going to charge them,” District Attorney Reed said today. “And we're going to say, clean up your mess."
Reed's office has sent out notices to 30 homeowners, asking them to clean things up and keep things clean. But if they refuse she plans to use health and safety codes to take them to court, where they could eventually face fines, property liens, and jail time.
"For those absentee property owners slash slumlords in these area, this lady is coming for you and she's going to make it hurt,” Commissioner Kevin Wolff said of Reed.
The clean up process doesn't end with District Attorney Reed. Both State Representative Ruth McClendon and State Senator Leticia Van de Putte are talking about submitting bills that would give the county more power to mandate trash pick up.
